ADL Under Fire for Opposing Anti-Sharia Laws

Email a copy of "ADL Under Fire for Opposing Anti-Sharia Laws" to a friend

Abraham Foxman. Photo: Justin Hoch.

The Anti-Defamation League, headed by National Director Abraham Foxman, is facing criticism for not supporting Florida legislation that would have made foreign laws from Islamic countries inapplicable in the U.S.

The National Conference on Jewish Affairs (NCJA) released a press statement in which it described how the ADL sent a letter to a Florida senator urging him to oppose one such bill, SB 1360, because it is “an obstacle to Jewish divorce and remarriage, and an infringement on religious freedom.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also lobbied against the bill and Hassan Shibley, the Florida CAIR director, has since called the killing of the bill a “Sharia victory,” according to the New English Review. When a similar anti-Sharia bill, HB1209, passed in the Florida house, the ADL Religious Freedom Counsel, David Barkey, expressed concern in a statement that the measure could prohibit “divorce arbitrations by Jewish tribunals called Bet Dins.”

ADL did not return a request for comment from JointMedia News Service.